LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 4/20

I think Project X is [a movie] for high school students with certain insecurities that just want to escape and “fit it” with the generic teenage label. To me, it displays their immaturity and adolescence. The fact that Project X parties are a main topic of conversation amongst seniors concerns me a little because they are supposed to be the role models of the school, but as of now they are basically encouraging underage drinking and drugs. For example, there was a teen in Texas who recently tried to throw one of these parties, which resulted in a shooting. I really hope this serves as an example of the potential dangers of throwing such an out of control party. People in Mason especially have skewed views because of the safe feel in this city. Teens in Mason, I feel, have the feeling of invincibility, which will result in a stunning reality check and I hope it will come before Mason experiences an incident like the one in Texas.

Bhanu Banda, senior

We should rethink our final exam procedures

Dear Editor,

I think that if you have an A in a class you should not have to take a final exam. A final exam will not boost your grade. It will only bring you down if you are on the edge. For example, if you have an A- in a class and you get a D or an F on the exam, you drop down to a B. If you worked really hard for that A, it would be pointless in the end since [you did poorly] on the final exam. If you have an A and already are passing the class, why take an exam on all of what you have learned, when it is very obvious that you understand the material. Our school should definitely look into this.

Kayla Rousseau, senior

Mason students should learn to relax

Dear Editor,

I feel like high school students take certain obstacles too seriously. High school and your teenage years should be the best time of your life and should be all about having fun. I understand that we all go through tough times but we need to realize that we have so much to live for. We have grown up in a society full of judgments that we are forced to face. When we face these judgments, we become stronger. I just want people to understand that you only live once and when you face something that may seem like the end of the world at the time, it will get better tomorrow.

Mallory Young, senior

Election buzz starts among students

Dear Editor,

I look forward to the 2012 general presidential election. With the political process in full swing right now, it is very interesting to see who is going to be the Republican nominee. Something that intrigues me is the relationship between amount of campaign money spent and the number of votes gathered. I see that Mitt Romney spends millions of dollars campaigning (some of which is mudslinging) and gets a lot of votes in return. Meanwhile, his competition, like Rick Santorum, does not have deep war chests to tap into and subsequently receive fewer votes.

But the real question to be asked here is if the Republican disarray will affect their presidential chances in the general election. It seems to be a weakness of the party. With several splintering groups like the Tea Party and the Occupy Wall Street Movements, it is hard to satisfy everyone. Therefore, the only way what a Republican can take the office this fall is if he is able to unite the party together. Otherwise, we can add four more years to Barack Obama’s tenure as the President of the United States of America.

Kaushik Chagarlamudi, senior

“KONY 2012” plays on short attention spans

Dear Editor,

People seem to have very short attention spans these days. Fads come and go and what is popular one day is forgotton the next. The “Kony 2012” video was intended to play to our short attention spans. It simplifiied a problem to make it accesible to many and was successful at doing so. But by aiming at the masses, it too was vulnerable to be forgotten–and as you can see, it has.

If the makers of the “KONY” video really wanted to affect change, they should have grounded their resources on a different problem first–making our attention spans longer.